Women's Impact on hip-hop

Romiesa Ahmed                                                                                                  03/23/16

                                          

      Women’s Impact on hip-hop

African Americans have long been stigmatized, placed in uniform categories and ascribed defining stereotypes. With the emergence of hip-hop in the early 1970s, this clumping of African Americans together continued. The N.W.A was the first hip-hop group to bring gangsta rap to the mainstream and along with it, the objectification of women “demeaning women, and promoting violence and sexual abuse against women” (Blay, 2015). According to bell hooks, “ in US-based mass media, a history of derogatory and dehumanizing representations of African-Americans exists” (as cited in Lindsey, 2012, p. 22). The representation of women in hip-hop as sexualized objects fuels the image of black women as hyper-sexualized and allows for a lumping of black women under that label. This depiction of women in the media allows for a striking model which influences many young black girls’ own identities and neglects to mention the positive impacts of women on hip-hop.

The dehumanization and negative perception of African Americans in the media are not concepts that are new, yet in hip-hop especially, the objectification and sexualization of women creates more for the media to latch onto. Treva B. Lindsey (2012) states that “histories of the sexual exploitation of black women and of the depiction of black women as hypersexual beings continue to structure responses to popular culture representations of black women engaging in sex acts”  (p. 25). The media creates this image of black women as hyper-sexual beings and, therefore, any emergence of occurrences that support this claim are immediately exploited by the media and shown as evidence of the so-called accuracy of that statement. Women in hip-hop are not positively represented, and the subject of female hip-hop artists is rarely broached.  The constant categorization of hip-hop, as well as other black popular culture, as misogynistic and degrading to women makes these concepts the ones that are focused on in society. The focus is not on the positive messages that hip-hop might depict or even the female hip-hop artists that are part of this popular art form. As Gwendolyn D. Pough says, “Young black women, like it or not, are getting their life lessons from rap music” (as cited in Hughey, 2007, p. 156).  Therefore, when all that is publicized in hip-hop is the sexualization and objectification of black women, this is what the young women listening to hip-hop will retain.

Although most female rappers do not describe themselves as feminists, some often “use the music they produce and the issues they raise to begin to enact change” (Pough, 2007, p. 88). Unlike the previously mentioned “negative” aspects and misogyny of hip-hop, there are some aspects of hip-hop that are positive. Jean Grae is an example of a female hip-hop artist who, although she claims not to be a feminist, raps about issues such as change and sexism in hip-hop. In her song, “What Would I Do?”, Jean Grae brings up the issue of sexism in hip-hop in her lyrics, “they won’t fuck with me unless I’m parading and taking it off” (Grae, 2002). She points to the idea that in order for women to be considered in the hip-hop scene, they have to take off their clothes or be sexually appealing. Grae rejects this idea and instead wants to “make music and have a career on her own terms” (Pough, 2007, p. 88). Through her rejection of the publicized norm for women in hip-hop, Grae takes a stand against the often misogynistic nature of hip-hop. Though she does not condemn others for following this norm or encourage them to embrace her ideology, she sets an example of taking a stand against a negative characteristic of the hip-hop scene that is very common.

Though the misogyny, sexualization, and objectification of women present in hip-hop is not to be undermined, the attention that these negative aspects receive greatly outshines the positive aspects that women in the hip-hop scene are creating. As Kelly (2015) says, “females who identify with hip-hop often develop and construct their identities in relation to media representations of blackness and femininity in hip-hop music and culture” (Rationale section, para. 2). When the bulk of what is shown in the media about hip-hop and black women is negative, this paints a picture in the mind of young black girls that they should expect to be marginalized, objectified, and sexualized.  

                                           
                                         Courtesy of yumgsta. Retrieved from                     
                                         https://www.flickr.com/photos/yumgsta/6772768292/sizes/n/

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